Our history with Tim and Gloria Wheeler goes back to 2010 when our first exploratory mission team of six went to Honduras to determine whether the work they are doing would be a good fit for an adult mission trip for our church. They toured a large part of the country and found a great fit with the work being done with the Chorti-Mayans in western Honduras.
In 2011, two mission teams were sent to Trinidad to stay in a hostel and work with the people of Cerre Azul building homes, sewing with the women, playing with the children.
In 2012, our mission team lodged in the town of Copan, worked to build a school building in Valley of the Breezes by adding a rough plaster coat to the bricks. The team also built homes in the village of San Francisco.
In 2013, our home base was Copan once again. We worked in the village of Santa Cruz, set on a mountainside, building homes, sewing curtains, and playing with the children. We had11 “returnees” and 6 “newbies” on the 2013 trip.
For 2014 we will again lodge in Copan. The plan is to work in a new community that according to Tim Wheeler, "is just starting to come together".
Background on The Wheelers
Tim and Gloria have served as mission workers in Gloria’s native land, Honduras, since 1990. Tim now serves as advisor for the Americas Area of Heifer International for country program strengthening. He is responsible for supporting the training, evaluation, strategic planning, administration and team-building capacities of Heifer projects in the region.
Gloria coordinates study tours and mission team visits from the United States. Some teams work in an urban setting, others work in one of the 20 local Heifer partners and others travel to western Honduras to help the Chorti-Mayan people build homes.
Gloria’s background in public administration is especially useful in building up the administrative capacity of Heifer personnel. She also works with local groups on gender and women’s issues and facilitates community workshops.
The Wheelers also dedicate part of their time to evaluating proposals that come from Central America to the Presbyterian Hunger Program and Self-Development of People.
Heifer Project reaches hundreds of communities, bringing hope to families through the possibility of raising their own animals and receiving benefits from them. Many children facing problems of malnutrition are benefited by this program but the concept of “passing on the gift” — of passing on the first offspring to another family — has been the key to project success. By strengthening the values of dignity, self-esteem and solidarity among participants, people’s lives are transformed and community organizations are strengthened. Today, the main focuses of the program are food security, environmental improvement and gender equity.
Tim and Gloria have lived and served in Gloria’s native land of Honduras for more than 30 years in different capacities. They met in 1977 and married a year later. From 1976 to 1990, Gloria worked with the Honduran Ministry of Economics. From 1977 to 1979 Tim was the country representative to Honduras for Church World Service. For the next two years he worked with Heifer Project International (HPI) and then from 1983 to 1990 Tim was the director for communications for the Christian Commission for Development (CCD). From 1990 to 2001 both Gloria and Tim have served with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Honduras through their ecumenical partner, the CCD.
Gloria served as coordinator of the work/study mission team program, trainer in the gender program and coordinator of the Healing Wings chapter in Honduras, a program which facilitated medical attention for Honduran children in the United States.
A native of New York, Tim earned a B.A. in history from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He earned his M.A. in Latin American studies from American University in Washington, D.C. Before going to Honduras with Church World Service, he lived and worked in Guatemala for two years.
Gloria was born in Honduras and earned a B.A. in public administration from the National University of Honduras.
The Wheelers are parents of three daughters. Marsha is working on a Ph.D. degree in entomology at the University of Illinois in Urbana. Pamela finished a second degree in microbiology and is working in the health field in Cincinnati. Grace is in her third year of medical school at Penn State in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
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